1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a poker game suitable for use in casinos and other gaming establishments as a table card game or a video poker game. The invention further relates to casino gaming wherein a player may play a draw poker game against a house stud poker hand in a wagering game.
2. Background of the Art
Games based upon variations of poker have attained enormous popularity as casino-type entertainment games, particularly in the last twenty years. The success of poker games in the gaming industry is partially based on the game's simplicity (i.e., there is widespread public knowledge of the game rules) and the fact that players feel more directly involved in exercising judgment in the play of the game.
Traditional poker as played in card rooms and casinos allow players to compete head to head against other players. The casino typically charges a fee or vigorish for the privilege to play at the table, and so is one of the rare wagering games in which the casino does not have a built-in percentage advantage per game.
Many new approaches to poker have been developed for casino table games that can be played on a blackjack-like table, in which the players compete against the house or against a paytable, and in which the house has an edge or percentage advantage. These poker variations now rival the popularity of blackjack in many venues. Let It Ride.™, one of the first variants to gain popularity, is a version of 5-card stud played against a paytable that requires a three-part bet, and allows the withdrawal of up to two parts of the total bet after viewing certain cards. The downside of the game for the player is that simple strategy rules determine whether the player should withdraw part of the wager, so there is a lack of involvement and risk-taking decisions that typify the casino poker player.
Caribbean Stud Poker® game is also a 5-card stud game, but is played against the dealer's qualified hand and a paytable. The dealer must have a specified minimum hand to qualify, so that there is consternation for the player who holds a premium hand and is not allowed to capitalize on it. An optional side bet can be placed to qualify for a progressive jackpot, but the high casino advantage on this wager may discourage the player.
Three Card Poker® game is actually two games in one. Both games are based on hands consisting of three cards and the player may bet on either one, both, and in different amounts. Play begins with a wager on ante. After the player views his three cards he may either raise by putting an equal bet on play or fold and lose the ante bet. If the player does raise then he goes against the dealer's hand. The dealer needs at least a queen high to qualify. The Pair Plus™ wager is a simple side bet in which the player gets the three cards and is paid according to their value. The dealer's hand is immaterial. There is no raising and no discarding. Dealer qualification can be problematic in this poker variation as in Caribbean Stud Poker game, and the Pair Plus™ wager in fact requires no skill of any kind and so does not excite the decision-making player.
The Four Card Poker™ game is akin to the Three Card Poker® game, but as the name signifies, four cards are used instead of three. Other key differences are that there is no dealer qualifying hand, and the player can raise up to three times his ante. The dealer gets one extra card to form his best hand. The object of the game is for the player to form a four-card poker hand higher than, or equal in rank to the dealer s hand. Players use their best four of five cards dealt against the dealer s best four of six cards. However, players may have the perception that the dealer always has the upper hand, since the dealer gets the additional card. 3-5-7 Poker® game is a simple poker-based game that is actually a three-games-in-one wherein the player bets on both 3-card and 5-card hands, and may also bet on a 7-card poker hand, with payoffs set by a standard pay table. Since the 7-card hand usually has the lowest house advantage, all three games should generally be played. Unfortunately for the player, a poor 3-card hand will more likely determine poor 5- and 7-card hands, so the player may have almost no positive anticipation and end up losing all three hands.
There is a need to address these cited shortcomings so that the player is offered a quick and compelling poker table game that does not require dealer qualification and allows the player a decision-making process that encourages the player to play at a comfortable risk level.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,928 (Schultz) describes a poker-type game capable of providing a dealer with an initial advantage and a player with a subsequent advantage. From a predetermined number of cards, a dealer is assigned an initial hand having a greater poker value than an initial hand assigned to a player. Subsequently, a dealer receives a number of cards to complete the dealer's hand, and the player receives a number of cards to complete the player's hand, wherein a predetermined poker advantage is conveyed to the predetermined number of cards to complete the player's hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,938,900 (Snow) describes a method of playing a wagering card game involving at least four distinct wagering parts and dealing three cards to each player and at least two common cards. Players are allowed to withdraw parts of the initial wager at various distinct points in the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,810 (Cannon) discloses a gaming apparatus and methods of conducting a wagering game of chance. A gaming machine is disclosed which is configured for mutually concurrent play of a plurality of games of chance on a single display screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,348 (Mitchell) describes a playing card wagering game method that involves each player wagering an initial blind bet against the dealer and an optional premium odds side bet for premium dealt hands having a rank equal to a pair of aces or higher rank within the first five cards players are dealt, resulting in a payout of six to one. Each player and the dealer are dealt five cards in succession face down. Two common cards are dealt face down in succession. Dealer turns dealer's dealt hand face up to reveal rank of cards. Players elect to hold on their dealt hands for higher odds payout of two to one or place a draw bet equal to their initial bet to include the use of the two common cards in play to improve their hands, resulting in payouts of even odds for using the first common card and one half odds, one for two, for using the second common card. Dealer turns first and second common cards face up. Dealer always uses dealer's dealt hand and both common cards to make highest ranked poker hand possible. Dealer turns players' cards face up declares rank of all hands, and resolves all wagers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,147 (Lo) describes a seven-card-stud poker game, played by two to seven players with at least one standard poker deck of 52 cards plus at least one Joker. One of the players is the Banker. A Player who is not a Banker may play Poker Bet, playing against the Banker's hand and/or one to seven side bets betting on the contents of the Player's own hand. After a wager is placed, each Player and the Banker are each dealt seven cards. The Players and the Banker each then selects his best 5-card poker hand from his seven cards and discards two cards. To win a Poker Bet wager, a Player's best 5-card poker hand must rank higher than the Banker's best 5-card poker hand. To win a side-bet wager, a Player's best 5-card poker hand must be one of the predetermined winning hands of the type of the side bet he bets on. The Poker Bet wager and seven side-bet wagers are independent wagers and are settled separately.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,614 (Hesse) describes a method of playing a Poker card game between a Dealer and at least one player wherein the Dealer receives two Poker hands and each of said at least one player receives one Poker hand. Upon evaluation, the player is determined to be the winner if the player hand is ranked higher than both of said dealer hands, and determining, upon said evaluation, the dealer to be the winner of the hand if either one of the dealer hands are ranked higher than the player hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,310 (English) describes a method of playing a casino type wagering card game includes the initial step of each player placing an initial wager. Five cards are then dealt to each player and seven cards are dealt to the dealer. Each player may then inspect the original dealt hand, and elect to stay pat or discard and draw one or two cards. If the player elects to draw, they then inspect the new draw hand and either fold or place a second wager to stay with the draw hand. All discarded cards are then collected by the dealer and the dealer selects the best five card hand, based on poker criteria, from the dealer's cards. A comparison is then made between the player's hand and the dealer's selected hand. If the player stayed pat and has a hand higher than the dealer's hand, the player is awarded odds on the initial wager. If the player stays with the draw hand, and has a hand higher than the dealer's hand, the player is awarded even money on the initial wager and the second wager. If the dealer's hand is higher than the player's hand, the player loses the initial wager and the second wager if applicable. If the player's hand and the dealer's hand are the same rank, a “push” will result, and the player neither wins nor loses money.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,011 (Lott) relates generally to a casino-type method of playing poker wherein one or more players play a single hand against the house. It relates more particularly to a multi-deck method of playing a poker-like game wherein multiple players progressively wager on a single five-card player hand which is matched against a later-dealt best-five-of-seven card dealer hand, the winning hand being determined by traditional rules of poker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,340 (Feola) provides various methods of playing a card game wherein the amount of successive wagers is pre-established. Each hand is preceded by players making at least one initial wager. A dealer then provides himself/herself with a plurality of cards and each player with at least one card to form an initial partial hand. The players are given the opportunity to view their initial partial hands and are then required to increase their wagers by a predetermined amount in order to continue playing that hand. If the player increases his/her wager by the predetermined amount, then the player will receive at least one additional card. Various embodiments require subsequent wagers in different amounts.
U. S. patent application Ser. No. 20050082760 (Yoseloff) describes a game comprising: each player placing at least one wager; dealing a first number of cards to a dealer as a banker's hand, the first number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for the banker's hand; dealing a second number of cards to each player, the second number of cards being greater than the number of cards to be used in determination of a poker rank hand for each player; the dealer discarding at least one card from the banker's hand to form a resulting single dealer hand; each player discarding at least one card to form a resulting player's hand for each player, wherein the number of cards in resulting player's hands and the resulting banker's hand are equal; and resolving each player hand against the banker's hand according to predetermined game rules. The initial player's wagers must be at least matched with a Game Bet (or play bet of 1.times. or more of the Ante) to remain in the game after players have received their cards. The Game Bet multiple is selected by the player.
U. S. patent application Ser. No. 20050001378 (Lo) describes mainly a 7-card stud poker game, played with at least one standard poker deck of 52 cards, plus at least one Joker. After a player places a Poker wager and/or a Pair Of Aces Or Better wager, the player then has the option to place a Bonus wager, against a banker. Each said wager automatically wins if the player is dealt a 7-Card 9 High hand or a 7-Card Straight Flush; otherwise, the player's Poker wager wins if the player's best 5-card poker hand ranks higher than or the same as the banker's best 5-card poker hand; the player's Pair Of Aces Or Better wager wins if the player's best 5-card poker hand is a pair of Aces or better; the player's Bonus wager wins if the player's best 5-card poker hand ranks higher than or the same as the banker's with a predetermined hand or better.
U. S. patent application Ser. No. 20040219970 (Tarantino) describes a multi-hand poker game comprising the play of a plurality of poker hands as part of the same game. The game includes the step of selecting and assigning a set of poker rules to apply to each hand. Each poker hand is formed and the outcome of each hand is determined by comparison to the set of rules which was selected for that hand.
U. S. patent application Ser. No. 20030168808 (Jones) describes methods of playing card games include the steps of (a) affording each player an opportunity to place an ANTE wager to participate in the game; (b) affording each player an opportunity to make an optional BONUS BET wager; (c) dealing three cards to each player and to a dealer; (d) affording each player an opportunity to view their cards; (e) affording each player an opportunity to either fold and forfeit their ANTE wager, or call by making a BET wager (f) evaluating whether the dealer's hand qualifies by achieving a predetermined point value; and (g) settling wagers by (1) if the dealer's hand does not qualify, paying the ANTE wagers and refunding the BET wagers to each remaining player and paying each remaining player who opted to make the BONUS BET wager an amount determined by a predetermined pay table based on a point value of the player's hand; (2) if the dealer's hand does qualify, comparing each remaining player's hand with the dealer's hand using point value as the criterion for comparison, (I) wherein if the dealer wins the hand the house wins the ANTE and BET wagers and pays to each remaining player who opted to make the BONUS BET wager an amount determined by a predetermined pay table based on the point value of the player's hand; and (II) wherein if a player wins the hand, the player wins the ANTE wager and is paid on the BET wager an amount according to a predetermined pay table based on the point value of the player's hand and the house pays to each remaining player who opted to make the BONUS BET wager an amount determined by a predetermined pay table based on the point value of the player's hand.
In Published U.S. Pat. No. 20040150163 (Kenny), a poker-type game is taught wherein one or more players initially place a wager(s) and then five cards are dealt to the player and five cards are dealt to the dealer. Players would inspect their hands and decide whether to fold or to continue to play. If the player was playing a wager against the dealer and wanted to continue to play, they would place another wager in support of their first wager in the appropriate betting area. The dealer would inspect his/her hand to see if they qualified. If the dealer did not qualify with a pre-determined rank of cards, the dealer would pay the first wager of the player and return the supporting wager. If the dealer had a qualifying hand, then the player and the dealer would compare their best four-card hand to determine the winner. Tie hands would be a push. If the player had also made a wager against the dealer and had supported that wager, and the player's outranks the dealer, they would be eligible for a payoff for achieving a winning hand. If the player had also made any wagers against achieving a predetermined rank, and achieves such a rank, the player would win that wager accordingly. In a second embodiment of the Kenny game, one or more players initially place bets and then five cards are dealt to the player and six cards are dealt to the dealer. Players would inspect their hands and decide whether to fold or to continue to play. If the player was playing a wager against the dealer and wanted to continue to play, they would place another wager in support of their first wager in the appropriate betting area. In games against the dealer, the player would play their best four-cards out of five and compare that to the dealer's best four cards out of six to determine the-winner. Tie hands would be a push. In this version the dealer would not have to have a qualifying hand to continue play. If the player had made any optional wagers against achieving a pre-determined rank, the dealer would pay or take the wagers accordingly.
Each of the references discussed in this text arte incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.
It is an ever-increasing challenge to provide players with new and enticing game play features that will stimulate player interest and increase time at the table or the machine.